hello there welcome to are to you live from moscow with a listen. in of the next couple of hours as we say goodbye to a turbulent twenty twelve will reflect what we've witnessed and how the world changed by a lot again in the last twelve months as it has indeed clever also of course going to be looking forward we're going to join some very familiar arty faces and look at us their idea their forecast of what we can expect according to them during the next twelve months and we want to get in touch with you join us on twitter with hast had r.t. recall join the conversation and tell us your highlights of the year that we shared

with you here on r.t. and what you hoped might have changed with our i phones ready to tell you greetings now we've come in from the cold as you can see the final minutes of twenty twelve usually if you recall last year nobody outside doing this near the usual celebrations in red square this is lovely graphics now is to give you the feeling but not freeze us to death and of course last year don't forget as well i was standing on a block of ice i think the producers could fido it moaning it was cold you had an orange block because a little bit short of me you know i have my secret suzanne today it's all anyway we're in our brand new studios as you can see where widescreen where h.d. hopefully show lights is going to go out wide screen as well exactly we've got robotic cameras you can see them but all this is leading up to the fact that we're in a brand new studio it's studio now for all of five t.v. news channels and seven websites we used to be in the center of moscow and now we've changed over the last couple of weeks a move to this huge new complex which we're going to be showing you later and also

of course showing you yes it's my first time in the studio it might have noticed i've been gone for a couple of months my first night back new year's eve great to be here i'm impressed i really am out of a stranger to me it's my first night trying it out so bear. with me if we get into a little sense there again i said among these very high heels to keep up with but we are going to take you tonight behind the scenes we're going to show you the argy gallery the artsy news room stick with us for that you can really not only see our new studios in h.d. but also you our teams home to say ok let's talk about what's happening around the world most in russia is of course already twenty thirty in the far east began welcoming the new year eight hours ago much of the focus though will be when it strikes midnight here in moscow the iconic saying we do it every year and we bring you those great fireworks of course little bit later as well and that's right we've go out to red square now of course that is the center of the celebrations here in russia r t if you go to fisk you know it is there for us and i think you can join

us and hopefully bring us a little bit of idea of what's happening at the ok this is we're just going to take you through some of the cities of course that was going into county washington she'll be joining us later so we're going to go around the world really and we've also with true from cairo paula slater from the middle east now we did do a little check just now a car we show you. is the red square it looks great when we saw it we can see more the molecule becoming up behind us now of course the big build is going to future can i get you are you all right you have been where you are in red square bring us up to date on the feeling this time around twenty twelve in the heart of russia and celebrations what's happening. for you guys unfortunately you can't see it live here because you're in the fancy studio but i'm here on red square and in the city center still and this is definitely the main spot in the city if not in the country

to celebrate the new years to hear the actual countdown of the year on the clock on the hour or for the kremlin usually it's broadcast around the country but if you really want to see it kind of. i hear it live in analog and then it's right here that's what many people have already come here to to witness that's going to happen in an hour it's actually in minutes like this when you really and realize how big the country is millions of russians already celebrating new year's of their own really living in two thousand and thirteen here we're still in the last hour but nevertheless many people have already gathered on red square i've seen lots of families a lot's of kids lots of guests of the city including foreigners and i don't really see why not since the weather is good it's been snowing all day it's not cold it's really the perfect conditions if you want to meet to greet the new year outside why not come to red square. i don't know if you

can see the people behind me were hearing chanting from time to time it looks like it's going to be a really really exciting in around an hour's time probably use it to access red square i mean if you're a foreigner and you come to moscow you want to make it down there to midnight is it really possible to get there i mean that's i'm from new york it's almost impossible to get to times square. and on times square i was there once it was really crowded because it's well it's smaller than red square it's actually not very hard to get here you do have to go through security checks obviously due to the great amounts of people which are expected there's lots of security actually thirty five thousand security personnel police and other security services are patrolling the city center currently because it's not only in the red square where the celebration are the celebrations are being held but also

pretty much all the squares in the city center the streets near red square are all traffic free at the moment so that all the best to get to red square you do have to go from the idea that that's one of the sides. off the square that's for just ordinary people so if you just visit the city just go through there no problem you go through the metal detectors everybody is really polite everybody's celebrating the new york course and the police as well so paint a picture for us this is the big holiday for russians acosta can't be underestimated kelly you are russian guy yourself paint a picture for us what listener like looking ahead to the new year means for you. well really the new year's is probably the biggest holiday in the country for each person is probably the birthday and then the new year this is the time when really all the friends and families get together plus it's followed by

a week around the week of holidays so this is really the time to meet your friends to see your family to it just have a good time and enjoy yourself this is why everybody loves the new year this is the time of hopes this is a time of. remembering what happened before hoping for something new something better and well this is a really a very exciting moment for all russians including myself you are looking from the outside i always have people ask me why is it that the country kind of just stops for so many days after new year's can you just take our audience through that tradition of the city one of the busiest largest cities in the world just becoming a ghost town why that happens and why at least for me it's become a fun tradition to be in an empty mosque i want to drive to work which is a pleasure why does that happen or on new year's. well it's actually it's twice a year that the city becomes it doesn't actually become

a ghost town but it's really it's could be seen visually just the amount of cars i decrease is like ten times the roads are absolutely free which is totally not usual for the city which is. usually blocked by just a monster traffic jams two times a year during the main holidays which are considered to be important but not as important as the new year's usually many people actually believe russia they like meet they greet the new year in the city and then they go somewhere else to the countryside or just go on vacation to the beach or whatever that's also probably why. some decided to make. these holidays an official week off doing nothing just having fun i guess this is really something very unique about russia which you wouldn't see in other countries like in the states for instance i think it's on the third of january when you start working. but probably here is just also

because many people. would have come to work with a really bad headache really sleepy and. they go i don't know if i wanted to last and i'm going to be a problem everybody gets tired of celebrating they go one more thing i wanted us used to paint a picture for a few was abroad who are who are russian it's now wall about fifty minutes to go and tell president potent gives the annual speech just take it so what's going to happen around midnight. right after it's all going to you let me go let me just. walk you through it basically the new year is marketed by the the clock on the set of the tower where i'm actually a clock and costly looking at the on the on the main tower of the kremlin when it strikes midnight and then bang it's new year's in moscow and then the president's address to the nation is broadcast we're going to see fireworks here on the red

square in other parts of the city also at one am there are going to be a lots of different entertainment events in other parts of the city center including video projections concerts very. this fear is everywhere i don't know if you can actually hear it but people are just constantly chanting behind me it's also really interesting there's a working ice rink right there behind me right on red square it works every it's open every every winter but it's really great that actually works right on new year's as well could be romantic if you want to. certainly get it down to ice skate on red square on new year's eve of course you got to live there will be joining you throughout the night thank you for giving us a little grass more into a russian's view also one of the biggest holidays of the year now it's a very spirited busy year for correspondents around the world to bring you the club direct from the places that you care about although conflict and economic troubles

dominated a lot of coverage this year we've also spent time with the world's key players some of our correspondents up here you can see peter oliver in berlin for us here of course congress the economic news of the year throughout this year for us from the german part of the capital i should say the german powerhouse also well so we got lined up to see you like to pay to be talking to you just a bit. oh actually it's all working ever so well we've got four other corresponds to talk to you they are ready and wait in the wings we can't quite speaks them yet we're going to talk to them after this break. the mighty volga that runs deep through the russian soul has provided inspiration

for songs and poems and is the country's main north south artery and decades ago schuman ingenuity connected it to the dawn river to the west the volga dawn canal is an engineering marvel within a day a vessel can pass the canals thirteen locks ten million tons of shipping does so every year. another concrete giant is this finished fifty years ago it's the biggest hydroelectric plant in europe it powers the local city of volgograd and sends lots more electricity to moscow the hydroelectric plant behind me is a potent example of how much the volga can provide but harnessing the revelent this isn't without its cost. fishermen have been watching fish stocks for years they see the slow damage the downing of the river has done especially to russia's prized sturgeon the source of caviar but in the president of the hydroelectric plant has done significant damage because it's stocked fish swimming up river to their

spawning grounds. within a year all these houses would have gone fallen into the river depending on how many of the hydroelectric plants turbines are on the water level can change suddenly and dramatically too suddenly for the banks to absorb. control of the river flow by the plant has made building on the shoulders floodplain more attractive serious floods are less likely but the water that is put into the drains is taken away from the fish that need it now at last the voice of the voters of color jay might start being heard. the first time in fifty years the rules will contain a point on maintaining biodiversity in the river we still have a chance to bring the volga back to la. meaning that the mighty vogue is treated with the respect it deserves.

hello again the welcome back to your own special my whether you've already pop the champagne yet congratulations if you have or if you're still hours away from the stroke of midnight where you are thanks in any case for being with us as we take in the final few minutes of twenty twelve i'm kevin though in a very precise said listen now is with me as well after a bit of a break away will going to talk about that later in the program with the good news . let's head around the world now in our correspondents who have been bringing you the news throughout this year peter oliver of course is our teams man in the german capital for us peter it was a crazy year i think it's fair to say in terms of the euro the german powerhouse take us through our what it meant for you being there reporting from the heart of it well yes we've certainly been kept busy here in you in europe in berlin based with the guards of the crisis it is really the place where every

major issue as being decided all voted against basically the decision is that anglo merkel wants to keep. the eurozone intact and she's been doing her best to make sure that that happens and i mean we've been following that see you out the year we've also seen the effects of it not just the decision seeing the decisions that are made here in journey but the effects that they have on countries like greece who would sound in athens where in thessaloniki where we've witnessed the. decisions that are made by the most successful eurozone countries what they're having on the poorer countries like greece like italy like spain and the well unfortunate results of the financial crisis on every day people you're reporting from a lot of think of this let's just recall what happened in grace witnessed didn't it the worst civil unrest in europe by far how has life changed for the greeks in twenty twelve. yes we have seen some serious changes to the

lifestyle of the every day greek i think one of the most poignant moments of it really was we went to a an orphanage in thessaloniki and we were talking to the organizers the who run the charity that runs they say this over there they were saying this. twelve months ago eighteen months ago the vast majority of people who were the children that were coming to them were they would be an orphan they may perhaps have been abused and now the vast majority of children that have been brought to this often age would being brought there because their families couldn't afford to keep them not to see the side reality of this financial crisis on people living on their daily lives so many people peter and you saw i mean for yourself so many people millions of people out in the streets of spain in greece what was it like to be at those protests for you as a reporter. at times open lifting to see the you know the public spirit of people that can come out from all across the the spectrum of society we.

teach is marching with coal miners every if you could pick a part of society then they were there was also quite frightening it's times and we were in athens for the last demonstrations the day out of forty eight i was striking towards the end of twenty twelve yeah the way the demonstration turned from being of the people voicing their opinions a turn from that into a well urban war zone in a matter of minutes there is a real anger there and that was that's visible in the violence this is sprung up from these demonstrations behind you aren't interested any violence they look like they just want to have a good time new year's eve in berlin there is indeed so let's stop talking about the dire economic situation at least we're going to look actually because of course there's a lot of. people will get back to later happy new year if we don't talk to you before midnight from moscow anyway fun. to say it's

a lot of people behind the scenes here of course not just the faces not one carcinoid painted that are involved in doing this the teams involved now describe how they were involved in covering what happened in europe during twenty twelve and it's coming up any minute now i can tell you as i say it was a very busy year it will come to the minute we've been trying to get you our audience of course to hash tag our tea recall for two thousand and twelve to hear what you have to say in a lot of people have written in already kev if you just want to bring up a couple of comments i did read a couple earlier about the euro and the economy so that really wasn't just a big event for us here at r t but for our audience as well and they're writing actually i was going from here talking about america when it comes out of the minute let's have a look now at what it meant for our team behind the scenes in terms of the euro the euro crisis in two thousand and.

it came to the point where if you walked into the studio you knew there was going to be a story about europe and austerity and protests and riots whether it would be spain or greece or even the u.k. and these were real people in real situations in very scary situations and our correspondents were out there in the midst of it all. so we actually we all sat so still it's over some type of square and i just see the camera around behind the camera everybody else around me putting just months on i was like he had to queue for moscow during the single life before i can say anything you get that horrible taste in your mouth and of course it's the tear gas that's become so synonymous with these demonstrations in greece along with the firing of molotov cocktails and

clashes with the place the producers like to see their correspondents in the middle of a crowd which is great but then the crowd a shouting the correspondence tries to speak out everyone's very loud you can't hear anything but it makes for good television and it's an incredible event covering it is pretty exciting you've got political elements you use yellow and you've got a new course force you've got the tragic human stories of people who are driven to desperation and pushed onto the streets to protest what they see is their livelihood to see the way over to iraq this most of. all people do think it's about spain's crippling unemployment figures especially amongst the young about the cost of the stakes the study says and then you really get a sense of just how angry and how desperate. they really get the full in the book that's doing to the country and to us it's not in the middle of one of these big protest movements when the clashes break out.

well twenty thirteen will see yet more talks to try to get a breakthrough between israel and the palestinians but rocket exchanges and israel's expanding its notorious settlement program have only put more obstacles to making peace a reality there a middle east correspondent. paula hi there good to see you tonight with there's no both sides of course talk about talks with enough of. the times if i had a pony or a rubles for. the last year where is it heading well yes given it does seem as if we have this constant repeat of the same conversation i mean if you look at what's happening on the ground israel continues to announce settlement construction and the palestinians continue to say that for as long as these announcements continue they will be no resumption of peace talks it wasn't so long ago that the palestinians were awarded upgraded status at the united nations but you cannot to track from the fact that we still have palestinian

faction groups hamas and fatah who always seem to be at each other's throats in less than a month the israelis will go to the polls and by all predictions they will reelect the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu for another term of office and it doesn't seem as if he has an olive branch so certainly the prognosis for any kind of peace moves is far it reminds me of a palestinian mother that i have been in constant contact with her daughter is currently unconscious in hospital in gaza city and she is afraid that the doctors have told her that if her daughter in fact manages to pull through she will be paralyzed and she told me just the other day that she's actually praying that if her daughter is paralyzed that she doesn't pull through because to quote her she said gaza is difficult enough to live if one is an able person just how much more difficult it is if a person is awful sickly to say you know what an awful sort of averts to lead to a mother to be able to say that. and if it seems like this year it was

a racing car obviously it's when you look at the personal stories sorry paul i was just i was just saying i was going to compare the concert that we saw in two thousand and twelve men of course the conflict in two thousand and eight two thousand and nine where you were there this time we had so many dramatic pictures and stories coming out of people inside of gaza on twitter and on facebook just devastating stuff how did the two conflicts compare for you as a journalist there. when he said was incredibly interesting covering both these conflicts back in two thousand and eight two thousand and nine we had a conflict that was twenty two days long by comparison this time around it was eight days four years ago the casualty count was more than a thousand people who were killed most of them palestinians this time around the casualty compromise was a lot lower and again four years ago it was a ground a face of this time around there wasn't a ground operation but let me tell you that the fact that there was no ground operation took all of us by surprise if you remember it was just hours before the

cease fire announcement was made that there was a bus bombing here in tel aviv it was the first such bus attack in some six years now we heard the sirens and parts of the explosion from our offices here because we're just a few streets away in fact we were one of the first t.v. crews at the site of that bus bloss and you'd asked me then whether or not a cease fire was possible i would have told you no which is why we were so taken by surprise that in fact there was no ground offensive that was ultimately nor interest so indeed that was something that was quite interesting to call that also the fact that israel now has more and don't have so i know that a certain u.s. and a new player a final turn so i could throw out of time we've got a few things to catch up just a final term so i can look looking towards the new everything to be positive about ten seconds. in ten seconds the mood on the ground both here in israel and in palestine is not particularly positive of course everybody is hoping that we could see

a resumption of peace talks but the present prognosis is not particularly positive paula thank you we should all the best of think you've been a great colleague over the last year and we look forward to next year as well be speaking to a lot more of course a lot of people talking about the prospects of peace between israel and palestine but we have war raging in neighboring neighboring syria and that's been a tremendous event of course throughout two thousand and twelve. again our team of course covered that as you'll know if you've watched over the last twelve months let's see what they had to say about it. it became very apparent after a massive regional arab spring and in the wake of that the next type of a pro-democracy movement on a revolution or civil war was not what was happening in syria when you see some

politicians there and the media focusing just. cracking down on people you think but what about the other guy on top of the politics and diplomacy the facts that are simply too important to ignore. i remember i was a training session of the syrian football team and the coach was very angry with how his players were practice and he was shouting he was swearing from time to time and then i move my head like it is just like this and i saw two helicopters flying at very low altitude and firing we were at each other's hotel restaurant and close to us there was a group or rich syrians playing cards from smoking and living life as usual and just the news before that as me and my colleagues were live in the local t.v. station there was an almost lost a few blocks away most likely terror attack most likely people have been killed and what struck you was the coexistence of those two. realities the reality of death

and the results of a lot of the most interesting interaction for me with assad happened before and after the interview obviously and that's often the case. i asked him if he's afraid. and said no. he said no i'm not afraid that's i'm the one with the you believe the person or not and the only reason you know if he's right or wrong is intuitional i think series becoming the next iraq it's a country that is totally disempower. well but then where and i don't surprise the shelf anybody and like in the case of iraq all this harm was done to syria with the substantial help of the outsiders on the guise of democratic and trying to say. well there's barely half an hour left of twenty twelve here in western russia and we have plenty more to bring you before midnight of course we certainly have but

will catch up with rory sushi who's russell together some of the stories that have raised either a small or so my bros a bit later that's pretty big what he's got and very funny and stand by of course for race the royals a microphone booby trap and a whole lot more after a short break we'll see you soon. we speak your language as i think about the role or not i. will use programs and documentaries in spanish what matters to you. but will turn it into angles stories. you hear. the spanish find out more visit. let me let me respond or not let me ask you a question. here.